About Me

During this website move over, I have lost every single write up file, so, here is a brand new updated:

‘About Me’ Section

My name is Jetty and I have a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Illinois State University with a minor in East Asian Studies (Japanese). I am a Leo and I am happily taken if that was going to be a thing that needed to be established. I provide cancer guidance to newly diagnosed survivors though, so, please feel free to message me if this applies.

I have a deep love and admiration for Japan and first traveled there in 2000 when I was awarded one of 25 slots to spend two weeks in the beautiful rice farming town Nakajo (Tainai now) and the city of Niigata. After this amazing trip, I began self-studies of Japanese and returned again for an independent study abroad at Temple University in Tokyo, Japan for 4 months.

I had planned on returning the next year in Fall of ’05 but instead I was completing chemotherapy for my GBM diagnosis. It took until 2013 to get back for my first roommate’s wedding and back in 2016 for the birth of Akari chan from that union. Then it would have been every two years (2018 for my last roommate’s wedding) until the pandemic threw a wrench in our Giant 2020 trip. That is now being fully planned to be amazing in the future. I have lived my whole life, save my Tokyo life, in Illinois but I have been planning a cross country move for quite a while and I hope it will happen this year!

I have 15 years of administrative assistant experience and I have primarily worked in the admin field, but I managed to ‘hate leave’ every job but my very first one at ISU. That was a joy every minute and I loved everything about that job. I would have stayed forever but it was a student worker job and my cancer treatment put an end to that. I have also ran my own contract art studio since 2009 and worked for an animation house in New York for seven years as a 3D artist/Colorist.

I completed my master’s degree from Goucher College in Digital Arts and my thesis was focused on my game T.A.R.C. (The Adventures of Robo Chan) about a little robot who gets found in a love hotel and brought home to a new house and new adventures. Sadly, due to programming issues, the actual game did not work, however, I was able to complete all the assets to finish it at a later date.

T.A.R.C. The Adventures of RoboChan

My cancer diagnosis has wreaked havoc on my ability to work so it is quite nice to think I might be able to make art for a living as apparently living through a deadly cancer that has left me in daily pain and struggling is not enough to be classified as disabled in this shitty country, so here we are. I have different areas for my art that can be found on Art Drop Down area, but I primarily do contract work and fun art that engages the joyful part of my brain.

The Ending Cancer in Our Generation Foundation is the nonprofit I began working on in mid-2009 with it’s sister site : Jetty’s Brain Book and officially formed in July of 2011 and received our official 501 (c)3 status from the United States IRS on October 31^st, 2011. We (I) complete full 990 forms annually for full transparency even though we are so small these are not required.   I will link to the Nonprofit in the TL;DR below. We are trying to build a community of artists to support and build each other up through our art and cancer guidance and advice. It has been a goal of mine for a long time, maybe this year is the year.

Fun Parts with MORE pictures:

Where i break down a few more fun facts about me.

Jetty is my real name, it was my great grandmothers name and thanks to my sister’s miracle baby, I too get to watch MY namesake grow up, as my grandmother passed away as I was finishing up radiation treatment.  It is not a nickname and it is not short for anything. I love my name and I am glad Baby Jetty gets to enjoy it as well.

I am directly ‘Center brained’, I LOVE hiking and live remarkably close to state parks that I very much enjoy. I also am a huge entertainment and gaming otaku. I love to create art and I love to read books but I am just as happy with googles on behind a chemistry experiment or watching Sci Show videos on Youtube. I hate surveys that make me chose one or the other. I like them both equally and I do not feel I should have to choose. This is probably why I am a Slytherin but I also place in other houses depending on one or two questions I volleyed back and forth on the answers.

I am a HUGE gamer otaku, I spend SO much time and money on games it is quite literally an obsession. My brain scarring has caused some issues in learning and playing certain games, especially FPS or games where active FP cameras must be used. However, I still enjoy being the 2^nd player in these games by solving puzzles and pointing out items since it’s the controlling the camera that causes me to get very sick. I really love quirky puzzle games and deeply complex games like Chulip or the Witcher 3. Plus, I have played Animal Crossing every day since it released! 😊

My passion is 3D modeling and in high school, I actually won the state and competed in Nationals in 3D Animation and Visualization two years in a row with Skills USA VICA and I was a finalist in the Gamers in Real Life competition. I feel as if I can model anything if given enough time and it is probably the only thing, I am truly good at, which is why it never gets worked on, ever. Between trying to make bills and build up a studio that could serve as an actual job consistent job and running a nonprofit while also battling health issues.  I do not even have a running animation software on this computer it is that bad sadly. I am sure my licenses ran out long ago when I was completing my capstone in 2015

TL;DR:

BA: Fine Arts;
Minor: East Asian Studies (Japanese);  Illinois State University;
MA: Digital Arts; Goucher College;
Started Japanese studies and trips in 2000 and would have been last year but the  pandemic stopped the 2020 Trip and pushed it to be a 2022 Trip instead;
Reluctantly still living in Illinois;
15 years of admin experience, 7 years in an Animation Studio in New York;
T.A.R.C. is my Digital Arts master’s degree thesis capstone project; while not finished, all assets are complete;
Daily pain and issues from cancer diagnosis =/= good enough for basic disability but enough to not hold down a proper job for long. Trying this make art to survive thing now;
I run a great nonprofit that offers a scholarship to a cancer survivor and a grant to a cancer caregiver, find out more here

Fun Stuff:

Yep, its my real name and it is not a nickname;
“Center brained”; love hiking and love making digital art and plying games;
HUGE Gaming Otaku everything from Chulip to the Witcher 3 with daily ACNH Plays. ^_^ ;
3D Modeling is my passion, but lack of time and money along with health issues has pushed it to the backseat.

I am just an artist who is trying to get into making art full time and making art that express myself and my own journey. It is my goal to make a *real* difference in the world and I hope over the next few years to do exactly that!

Thank you for reading all of this but I take no offense if you just jumped straight to the TL;DR.

Love Always,

Jetty